Wire making process



March 21, 1933.

Filed Jun e 22, 1931 -FY3115 C t' lron wire Iron Rod cor%? w rg fo ifi in Ferric; Hydrate Ferr'n: H rate an Lime and 'mu Inventor:

' Christian Dombsi ze'n,

katented Mar. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT me} CHBISTIAK DANTSIZEN, OE SCHENEGTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO GENERAL v ELEGI'BIO COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK WIRE MAKING PROCESS Application medium: 22, 1931. Serial m5. 546,169.

My invention relates to wire making processes and is concerned with a method of speeding up one of the ordinary processes of wire making generally used at present. The

'5 invention is more particularly directed to that portion of the wire making process relating to the preparation of metallic rods for the wire drawing operation.

Generally s eaking, the manufacture of metallic wire, or examplesteel wire, according to one well known process comprises the fabrication first of wire rods by hot-rolling of the steel ingot and billet. These rods are usually hot-rolled to a diameter of about a half inch or under and are subjected after suitable preparation to wire drawing operations to reduce them to the proper diameter.

One of the important steps in connection with the making of wire is the proper preparation of the rods for the wire drawing operation. The rods must first be freed from scale or oxide else the die through which the wire is drawn will be ruined. The general practice is to remove the scale on the rods with dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric acid.

After so cleaning the rods they are well washed and allowed to stand until they are rusted (as termed by wire drawers,

browned) or in chemical, terms'they are.

coated with a film of ferric hydroxide. They may be kept under a spray of water until this brown rust forms. After the rod has rusted it is dipped into boiling lime water, drained and dried in ovens at about 100 C. The thin coating of lime on top of the ferric hydrate serves the purpose of protecting the brown coat and also of keeping the rod from corroding and in addition acts as a dry lubricant in the subsequent wire drawing operations.

The rod is then subjected to drawing operations first through chilled iron dies and finally through steel and diamond dies.

This rusting and lime coating of the rod is exceedingly important and must be car ried out with great care for the subsequent drawing operation depends very largely on the proper coating of the wire. At the present time there is a great loss of time and slowing down in the process of wire makin because of the fact that it takes anywhere om a half hour to 24 hours to produce the requisite coat on the wire by allowing it to rust naturally in air. Since metal speeds down rapidly in the rolling mills fromingots to billets and rods preliminary to the drawing operations, it is the coating process now in vogue which holds up the process of finishing wire by drawing it through the dies.- have discovered a method whereby I can materially speed up the process of putting on d. the rust coat and lime on the. rods prior to the drawing operations and hence materially speed up the entire process of wire making.

My process comprises briefly the making of the rod anode for a few seconds in a bath of- 5 lime and water while passing current therethrough after which the rod is dried in air for a short period of time. In this manner I am able to quickly .coat the rod with the proper rust coating and at the same time put on the requisite coating of lime.

In the accompanying drawin forming part of the present application Fig. 1 illustrates diagrammatically the process of the present invention.

Fig. 2 illustrates a cross section of the iron rod initially employed and before entering the lime bath.

Fig. 3 illustrates a cross section of the iron rod after it has left the bath and been dried.

Fig. 4 illustrates a cross section of the iron wire after it has left the wire drawin dies.

In order to illustrate my invention lint in no way limiting it the following example of the process is given:

Iron rod 10 is rolled down to a suitable diameter, say, inch and coiled if desired. It is then made the anode in a bath 11 of lime and water. Ordinarily a so-called solution of milk oflime is used as the bath. This is a saturated solution of calcium hydroxide carrying the excess of lime in suspension. Preferably an elevated temperature is employed I have found a temperature of about 90 to C. to be satisfactory. The time of treatment is very short, usually 5 to .15 seconds.

A current density of 1 ampere per running inch of.the rod is satisfactory. A separate cathode of any suitable material may be em- 100 formed on the surface dehydrates partially to ferric oxide.

5 separate steps.

0 after which they have ployed or the walls of the tank may be used as the cathode.

A gelatinous coating of ferrous hydrate 1s of the rod and this 00- cludes and carries out of the bathwith it an appreciable quantity of both free lime and its solution in water. On drying in air the green ferrous hydrate next to the rod rapidly oxides to brown ferric hydrate and probalbllly e llme dries out also with the ferric hydrate. The rod ispreferably fed 'COIltlIlllOllSlY through the bath and at a rate such that 1t acquires the proper coating and is dried m air after leaving the bath. Either air at room temperature or warmed air may be used. The coated rod, after leaving the bath and being dried, is.fed through the usual wire drawing dies 12. The operation is thus continuous. The separate coils of metalhc rod may be made the anodes as such in the bath instead of bein fed through the bath as outlined. It is preferred however to employ the continuous process of coating and wire drawing.

It is thus apparent that by means of my discovery the entire process of wire making is materially speeded up. Not only is the coating of the metal rod with ferric hydrate quickly accomplished, but also by means of my process the lime is deposited at the same time on the rod as the rust coat is being ut on, thereby accomplishing in one operation what it has heretofore been necessary to do in Again by means of my invention a uniform coat of rust and lime is obtained and with proper control the coat ma be made of any desired thickness.

s a result of my invention one practical application is the production of welding wire for use in welding electrodes. It is known that a lime coating on an iron or steel electrode is a good weld-regulating substance It is also known that such a coating adheres with great tenacity and permanence if applied on or in conjunction with a sull or rust coating. As in the prior processes of making metallic wire the electrode rods have, heretofore been allowed to rust naturally in air been passed through a lime bath, dried and drawn through dies. There has been no control on the length of time required for putting the rust on the rods 7 for this process, it will be appreciated, had to Nor was there vary with natural conditions.

any control of the amount of rust being put on. Great differences in performance of welding wires probably are due to this lack of uniformity of coatin on the ,wire. With the process of my invention the formation of the iron oxide coat is a matter of a few seconds instead of hours and the amount of iron oxide produced as well as the amount of lime going on the wire is determined by the current density and the time of electrolysis.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. The process of making wire which comprises fabricating a ferrous metallic rod of requisite thickness, making said rod the anode in a. bath of lime and water, passing current therethrough, drying said rod, and drawing said rod through a wire drawing die.

prises fabricating a ferrous metallic rod of requisite thickness, making said rod the anode in a bath of lime and water for a few seconds while passing current therethrough and maintaining said bath at an elevated temperature, removin the rod from the bath, drying the rod in air, and drawing said rod through wire drawing dies to produce a wire of desired diameter.

The process of making wire which comprises fabricating a ferrous metallic rod of requisite thickness, making said rod the anode for about 5 to 15 seconds in a bath of lime and water maintained at a temperature of about 90100 C. using a current densit of approximately one ampere per square inch of rod surface, drying the rod in air, and passing it through a wire drawing die.

4. The process of making wire which comprises fabricating a ferrous metallic rod of requisite thickness, immersing said rod in a bath of lime and water, electrolyticall depositing thereon a coating from said bath, removing said rod from said bath and drying it, and passing said rod through a drawing die.

5. The process of making wire which comprises fabricating a ferrous metallic rod of requisite thickness, passing said rod through a bath of lime and water, electfolytically de-' positing thereon a coating'while said rod is passed through said bath, dr 'ng said rod after emergence from said batl i, and passing said rod through a wire drawing d1e.

he process of makin iron wire which comprises fabricating an II'OII rod of requisite thickness, continuously feeding said rod as anode through a bath of lime and water while passing current therethrough, the rate at which said rod is passed through said bath being suflicient to oxidize the surface thereof and deposit thereon a coating of lime from said bath, passing said rod from said bath into the air to dry said coating, and finally drawing the coated rod through a wire drawing die.

7. In the process of making wire the steps preliminary to the wire drawing operations which include making a ferrous metallic rod the anode in a bath of lime and water while passing current therethrough and subsequently drying the rod.

n the process of making wire the steps preliminary to the wire drawing operations which include making a ferrous metallic 2. The process of making wire which comwire rod the anode in a bath of lime and water for 5 to 15 seconds while passing current therethrou h, the bath being maintained at an elevate temperature, and drying the rod 'in air.

9. In the process of making wire the steps preliminary to the wire drawing operations which include producing a coating including ferric hydrate and lime on a ferrous me- 1 tallic red by making it the anode in a bath of lime and water, passing current therethrough, and drying the rod so treated in am In witness whereof, I have hereunto set w my hand. a

CHRISTIAN DANTSIZEN. 

